The present invention relates to archery products, and more particularly to mechanical archery broadheads having one or more blades that deploy from a retracted mode to a deployed mode.
Broadheads are devices that are attached to a forward end of an arrow shot from an archery bow. Broadheads typically include blades having cutting edges that enhance the penetration and cutting action upon impact with game, to thereby harvest game quickly and humanely.
There are several types of broadheads, one of which is known as a mechanical broadhead. A mechanical broadhead typically includes blades that move relative to a ferrule to prevent undesirable aerodynamic steering of the front of an arrow, to which the broadhead is attached, and which can cause the arrow to deviate from a desired trajectory.
Most conventional mechanical broadheads are operable in a retracted mode and a deployed mode. In the retracted mode, substantial portions of the blades are hidden within a body of the broadhead, for example, during flight of an arrow, so as to reduce undesirable steering effects. When the broadhead impacts a target, such as game, the blades are designed to open to a deployed mode and thereby expose the cutting edges of the blades and enhance penetration and cutting action thereof.
Many mechanical broadheads include complex mechanisms to hold the blades in the retracted mode and/or to allow the blades to deploy to the deployed mode. Some of these mechanisms can allow the blades to open and deploy prematurely, which can result in poor penetration into the target. Other mechanisms fail to open to the deployed mode because of an inappropriate closing force on the blades via the mechanism. Further, with such complex mechanisms, when dirt, debris and fluids enter parts of the broadhead, this can significantly affect reliable, consistent deployment of the blades.
Accordingly, there remains room for improvement in the field of mechanical broadheads so as to provide more efficient and consistent retention of blades in a retracted mode, and deployment of blades to a deployed mode.